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Lovejoy was a mess.

It had been approximately sixty-three hours and forty-eight minutes since she'd last slept. At least, that's what she thought the last count was, give or take a few hours and any time difference being in Mirrorspace provided. It was hard to tell, judging by the dimming of lights versus actually having a clock (who didn't have clocks???) but she was fairly certain she was going on her fourth day of no sleep.

Fairly.

Then again, the white haired senshi wasn't completely sure of anything anymore.

The voodoo doll hadn't been a success, unless the Queen intentionally had wards against teenage practices of black magic. Maybe she'd said the incantation wrong. Maybe she hadn't said anything right in the past twelve hours. Maybe, maybe, maybe there were lots of maybes going on.

Her head was hurting, she at least knew that much. She wasn't sure which room she'd stumbled in but she knew the chair she'd found was adequately comfortable and that her head really hurt and her stomach was starting to hurt even more.

Was it time to go home yet?

The sudden jerk on her hand startled the younger girl, who practically bolted up in her chair. Hands moved out to grasp the arms of her chair, eyes wide as her head jerked around to find the source. At seeing it was Kibirev, she immediately relaxed.

"Hells bells, Kibbyroo - you could have given me a heart attack!"

Then again, her heart was already working at full capacity to keep her going - it probably didn't have time to attack itself, not when she hadn't slept or eaten in days. Heck, she was lucky that it wasn't trying to rebelling like her stupid stomach or head was. Ugh.

Her complaining was quick to stop, though, when her best friend started sounding worried. Something wasn't right - had the other girl finally discovered that the Queen was nefarious? Or maybe she had eaten one too many crystals and was finally seeing the after effects - was she turning pink too???

"It's okay - it's okay." Hands clasped over the other senshi's and she stared her down with the widest eyes she could manage (bloodshot, at this point at that). "Whatever it is, I'm here for you, Kibs. I've got you."

Her bare hand rose to take hold of her friend's shoulder and lift herself up in support, but she paused as something sharp poked at her fingers. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stepped closer, encroaching in her best friend's personal space as she stared at what was supposed to be the fairest skin of all, like princess skin. Kibby was supposed to have princess skin not crystal skin.

Dark eyes blinked. She looked again, then up at Kibirev. Her eyes grew wider as she finally recognized the tiny little crystals jutting out from the sunspots Bea had used to tease Kelly about as being cancer spots.

Kibirev was becoming a crystal.

Her best friend was now a crystal person.

Laughter bubbled up from within her as her best friend started crying. She couldn't help it. This was perfect. Amazing. Exactly what she'd warned.

Her hand gripped her friend's shoulder again (being mindful of the shoulder-crystals) as she leaned close, pressing her lips against the other girl's ear.

"Kibby... Kibby, Kibby, Kibby. Didn't your mother ever tell you..."

She pulled back, looked left. Looked right. Leaning in, she finished her statement, "You are what you eat?"

Another peal of laughter struck her and she stumbled forward, walking to nowhere in particular with her friend in tow. After all, it didn't matter. They were going to die. They were going to turn into crystal people and they were going to die right there in the magical castle and she'd never get to graduate or meet a real werewolf or get a first kiss or sell all of her creations on eBay for a million dollars.

This was it. The end. Finale. ADIOS.

So what did it matter?

"Y'know. I think bed would be perfect right about now."

She really didn't think it was perfect but maybe the room would stop spinning if she were flat. Or it'd spin less fast, as it was currently doing. "You gonna lay with me, Kibaroo? C'mon now, no crying. It'll be great. We can be like, crystal statues. How you wanna pose, when we finally finish crystallizing? We should probably plan that in advance, y'know, get some really cool poses going or something."

The look she gave her best friend was irritated at best, "Don't patronize me, Kibs. You ate the crystals. You're sprouting crystals. I'm not a genius but I can do that kind of math."

... which didn't explain why on Earth her own skin was slowly growing glossy patches of who knew what. She hadn't eaten a crystal and yet she shared in the suffering. How as this fair? She had been doing so good, too. It wasn't fair! Everyone else that had eaten the crystals weren't hungry and she was practically starving but she'd caught the disease too. What the crap!

Slumping on top of the bed next to her friend, she opened her mouth to argue her point (even if it was fallible, as shown by her own betraying flesh) but it appeared her sweet best friend had other plans in mind.

As soft lips pressed against hers, LJ was immediately silenced. Stunned was probably a better word for it, she was downright stunned. Eyes closed - they were supposed to close during a kiss, right? - and she sat there, unsure of what to do. She liked Kib - Kelly - but why was... was this...

Oh hells bells, this was just too confusing.

Drawing away, one hand rose to press against her temple. The crazy ranting, the abnormal laughing, all of had dissipated as she quietly said, "I think... I think I need to lay down now."

And that's what she did, flopping on the bed next to where her best friend sat, dark eyes taking turns glancing between the ceiling and Kibirev, a confused look still painted across her face.

The wild Lovejoy had been subdued.

A cool, smooth object was pressed against her chapped lips and instinctively, the confusion senshi reached up to pluck the item from out of her friend's hand. It was a crystal. Of course it was a crystal. Everything was a crystal, these days.

A patch of white caught her attention and she glanced at the side of her hand.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no. It was spreading. The smooth, weird rash was spreading and it was only going to be a matter of time that her hand would be consumed by it. Maybe she'd sprout crystals like her best friend. At least they'd be together then, heh.

"I think you're my prince."

She snerked out loud, the sound scratchy and dry. Leave it to KellyBells to come up with something adorable to say. Some way to try to convince Bea to do what she wanted...not that she really needed to. It was Kelly. She'd go to the ends of the Earth for her best friend - who else put up with her like she did?

"You're a dork, d'you know that?"

It was as endearing of a scoff as a scoff could be. LJ's cheeks were red - clearly her friend's brain was getting crystal-fied too. She was talking her up, making her sound more brave than the crazy she knew she was acting. Bless her, she was holding herself together better than LJ was, all things considered.

Still, the crystal slowly made its way into her mouth, tentatively so.

"Prolly got crystals in your noggin. Maybe mine will at least match my outfit, ha."

And, glancing back up towards the ceiling, Lovejoy took a crunch and then a swallow of the crystal rock.

The crystal was swallowed and shortly thereafter, her stomach stopped rumbling. While the rock hadn't had a flavor, there was still a quiet contentment, like she'd eaten a decent meal and was satisfied.

Dangerous concept, LJ couldn't help but think.

Still, Kib's soft voice was oddly soothing - more soothing than usual. If there was anyone who could talk the eccentric girl off a ledge, it was her pretty princess of a friend.

Rolling to her side, the teenager tugged her friend close, a decent replacement to Fangs the mutant teddy bear or Charlie the decapitated llama. She exhaled, the noise coming out as a heavy sigh as tired bones settled into the comfortable mattress. Thoughts of cookies, ghosts - even something as ridiculous as prom - danced in her head as eyelids found themselves drooping.

"Yeah, yeah. You gotta ask me out proper," she mumbled softly, the senshi finally drifting off to sleep, "And don't expect me to wear pink, mmk...."